Self-draining CEMEX concrete solution to road flooding

18 August 2016

Road flooding is a perennial problem during rainy season in the Philippines. Aside from slowing down traffic to the inconvenience of motorists and commuters, flood poses public safety and health concerns.

One cause of flooding is the clogging of drainage with trash and debris. A clogged drainage prevents rainwater from properly flowing to canals that lead to storm drains leaving it to collect on the pavement. Despite the annual drainage cleanup before the onset of the wet months, flooded roads remain a common sight in cities. But a solution is now in sight.

Aquacrete came about because of CEMEX’s culture of technological innovation, which set the company as the global leader in the building materials industry. Observing that water pools above concrete can become a slipping hazard, CEMEX engineers developed a safer concrete. By combining selected aggregates, CEMEX cement, and a proprietary admixture, small voids, and channels were created in the concrete to make it permeable but still structurally strong and load bearing.

An
ideal solution to clogged drainages and road flooding, CEMEX’s Aquacrete is a
permeable concreteused in paving and housing developments that allow water to
flow freely through it

“A parking lot or sidewalk built from Aquacrete could act as a giant drainage with its numerous voids and channels allowing water or fluid to flow freely through it,” said Patrick Ozaeta, CEMEX business development manager. “The voids and channels are so small that no trash gets through to clog it. Water would be able to flow better to the canals and into storm drains thus suppressing the potential for a flood.”

Aquacrete is not only safe but sustainable. The collected water can reduce household and industrial water consumption.

“We envision a future where homes have driveways that drain water into reservoirs for use in flushing toilets and watering the garden or other uses,” added Ozaeta.

Innovations like Aquacrete are not only practical, but also promote peoples’ safety and help protect properties from the effects of flooding. Definitely seen as a way forward, Aquacrete is redefining the capacities of design to become an enabler for a more sustainable future.

Aside
from its functional aspect of being a permeable concrete, CEMEX’s Aquacrete can
also be contouredand decorated with colors for a more appealing look

“We are taking something as common and established as concrete which has been around for thousands of years and pushing the limit of what you can do with the material. The future of design is in the continuous improvement and engineering of the systems, products, and structures we already have, like what we did with Aquacrete,” said Arturo Rodriguez, CEMEX business development director.

For residential aesthetics, public works

Aquacrete can be contoured so it is also ideal for making decorative structures and sidewalk decoration. Likewise, color pigments can be added to the concrete to give it a more appealing look.

“You could have this concrete surrounding your buildings and color it to match the façade of your home,” shared Rodriguez. “Not only would you be making sure that the area is safe from slipping hazards, you can adjust its color to your taste or to achieve a specific aesthetical effect.”

CEMEX Pervia, the international counterpart of Aquacrete, has been used for US and UK roads. In the Philippines, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) has expressed interest in Aquacrete and is willing to do a pilot project to see how the technology can be maximized in public works.

CEMEX
developed Aquacrete as part of its mission of innovating building materials and
paving solutions towards nation-building.Photos show the Aquacrete interactive
booth during CEMEX’s 2016 Experts’ Forum held in Shangri-La Mactan, Cebu.

DPWH already accredited a CEMEX product, the concrete additive Promptis, and certified it as a “concrete accelerating admixture in public road projects” because it can shorten the time for making newly-built pavements cured and ready for traffic use from the usual three days to only one day or even less than 24 hours.

CEMEX’s mission is to innovate building materials and paving solutions for nation building. It invests heavily in research and development to develop concrete— some of these are self-curing, hyper strong, and hyper ductile which can do away with steel reinforcements.

CEMEX Philippines offers a broad product mix of building solutions to the Philippine market. Its subsidiaries, Apo Cement Corporation and Solid Cement Corporation, produce and market cement and other building materials in the country. These cement manufacturing subsidiaries carry the well established cement brands APO and Rizal. Visit www.cemexholdingsphilippines.com for news and updates or like and follow CEMEX Holdings Philippines on Facebook and Instagram. For partnerships, contact the Public Affairs Unit at (632) 849 3600.